


Sweetest Perfection

by amethyst-noir (Arbonne)



Series: Stephen Strange Bingo Collection [25]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Blood and Injury, Caretaking, Cloak of Levitation (Marvel), Established Relationship, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fluff, Humor, Hurt Stephen Strange, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Protective Tony Stark, Stephen Strange Bingo 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:07:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21609574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arbonne/pseuds/amethyst-noir
Summary: Stephen stumbles home, exhausted and hurt, and Tony takes care of him.
Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Series: Stephen Strange Bingo Collection [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1316576
Comments: 16
Kudos: 171
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Stephen Strange Bingo 2019





	Sweetest Perfection

**Author's Note:**

> *points up to the summary* So, basically every story ever by me, right? Never change a running system and all that. 🤣
> 
> This is utter domestic fluff with a little bit hurt/comfort and humor. It's also my latest entry for the @stephenstrangebingo. Blackout, baby! Just in time, too. I'm kind of proud that I managed it, actually.
> 
> @stephenstrangebingo: _Movie Night_ | @badthingshappenbingo: _Painful Wound-Cleaning_

He found Stephen in the bathroom, right in front of the running shower, steam already making its way across the room. The Cloak was anxiously fluttering around him, clearly trying to decide where and how it could help best. The fact that Stephen hadn't even said hello before fleeing in here didn't bode well.

"Calm down, I'm fine, just give me a moment," he murmured but it didn't settle down.

Another not so great sign but the display was cute enough that Tony still grinned a little bit before he decided to intervene.

"You should really work on your lies, if not even your cape buys them anymore."

He had the pleasure of getting swatted by the Cloak for his words and of seeing Stephen jump in surprise at his sudden appearance. His amusement died a quick death, however, when Stephen slowly turned around and gave Tony a brilliant view of the damage.

"I'm fine," Stephen said quickly.

Tony didn't even try to hide his reaction. "Sure. Blood and shivering are all the range these days... fuck, what the hell happened?!"

All the teasing was gone the moment he saw Stephen's hands. Tony was at his side, carefully reaching out and cradling them between his own a second later, trying to see how severe the damage was. The blood made it difficult.

"I'm okay." Stephen's voice had dropped to a harsh whisper but he didn't even try to get his hands out of Tony's gentle grip. "It looks worse than it is."

"Stephen." Tony tried to keep the disappointment and fear out of his voice, he really did. "Let me help you? Please?"

Stephen flinched back as if Tony had hit him. "I can do it. I just need...," he paused for a moment, looked first at Tony and then at his hands - shaking much worse than usual - before he visibly deflated. "Yeah, okay." He gave in with little grace and winced when he pushed up his right sleeve with his left hand. It was obvious that the movement hurt but Tony knew him well enough to not offer more help, no matter how much he wanted to do so.

"I was careless and got caught in the crossfire," he explained quietly as he exposed the wound on his underarm. At first glance it didn't seem to be too deep but it was rather big and encrusted with dirt of whatever hellish dimension Stephen had found himself in. Some blood was still seeping through.

Tony carefully touched the unhurt skin above it. "Careless or hurting?"

A quiet sigh. "Hurting. Today's a bad day and I wasn't fast enough to move out of the way."

 _So was yesterday. You shouldn't have gone ou_ _t_ , Tony wanted to point out but didn't. It was too late anyway. "This has to be cleaned," he said instead.

"Shower first," Stephen decided. "I'm not going to die in the next few minutes."

"If the doctor says so." Tony wasn't in the mood for teasing but realistic enough to know it himself.

Stephen laughed at that but it didn't even begin to mask his obvious exhaustion. "I'll even let you play nurse afterwards, if you really want to." He winked and Tony tried to smile back.

It wasn't too bad, which was good, but he still hated seeing Stephen like this. "I'll take good care of you, doctor," he murmured and stroked the soft skin under his fingertips. Stephen shivered - this time in pleasure.

Stephen looked down at his hands. "Help me get off this gunk first and then you can play doctor with me all you want." His words were light but they both knew that it was going to hurt. As damaged as the nerves in his hands were - everything else was rather sensitive. While Stephen was unfortunately used to deal with pain on a regular basis it didn't mean that he _enjoyed_ doing so and Tony hated to see him hurting like nothing else.

"Shower," Tony reminded himself. Normally, it was a treat to undress and pamper Stephen, a time spent teasing and having fun, of slowly stripping down and caressing each other. Now there was a silent staring contest before Stephen relented by lowering his head and holding out his arms. The Cloak and Tony undressed him in silence and Tony took in the damage - mostly bruises and a few scratches; the deeper wound on his arm was the only one requiring more than superficial care - in uncharacteristic silence.

He still indulged himself by slowly stroking over Stephen's back as soon as the last of his clothes had fallen to the floor. "You okay?"

"Tony." Stephen forced Tony to look at him by using his left hand to hold and direct his head. "It's just a scratch." Tony's eyes flickered to his right arm but he was careful to not move his head as long as Stephen held him in his fragile grip. Stephen gave him some sort of weird hybrid between a smile and a grimace. "Okay, a little bit more than a scratch," he conceded and shivered when Tony put his hand on his elbow to support his arm. "But nothing's broken and you can't even see bone."

Tony shuddered. "Your standards are abysmal, you know? You're a doctor, in case you forgot."

A shrug. "Which means that I know when something's not too serious."

"Says the man who tried to shrug of blood poisoning not too long ago, if I remember correctly." _That_ had been scary as hell. "The excuse is getting old."

Stephen used it regularly and was way too nonchalant about being hurt in addition to being too used to being in pain, as his scarily impressive collection of scars proved. This would be yet another one, but probably not one of those that made Stephen feel ashamed, considering how he acted about it now.

The deep scar on his chest, not far above his heart, was the worst offender in that regard - it was only recently that Tony had been allowed to touch that one, and he still didn't know the story behind it.

Stephen suddenly leaned forward and kissed him. "I'm sorry I missed it," he murmured afterwards, their foreheads still touching. It was a dirty trick to get Tony's mind off things and it worked.

"Sorry you missed what?" Tony gently stroked Stephen's arm in retaliation while carefully nudging him towards the still running shower. He gave him a gentle push to get under the warm water and took a step back to watch the show and offer help if necessary.

"Movie night." He _had_ been supposed to show up yesterday, after all, Tony realized. He'd been busy himself. First with work and then with worry.

Tony waved the topic away. "Oh that. Doesn't matter. You're home, that's all I want, actually. Fuck the movie." He'd rather fuck Stephen, actually, but not in that condition. Maybe tomorrow or the day after, depending on how his recovery would go.

No answer to that, apart from a skeptical look, and Tony decided to indulge a little bit. He knew Stephen well enough to not offer any help but concentrated on getting the first aid kit out of the sadly very well stocked cabinet next to the shower. He was fast enough to still have time to appreciate the view. Despite everything it was fun to watch Stephen's elegant movements as he cleaned himself up and Stephen responded by slowing down and giving a little bit of a show.

Despite the scare he could feel the beginnings of arousal - Stephen, especially a naked and wet one, tended to have that effect on him. _Not now_ , he reminded himself adjusted himself a little bit more comfortably.

"Movie night is still on the table. Or the couch. Whichever you prefer. It's not too late and I'm more than willing to snuggle my boyfriend better after the hard days at work he had."

He got a raised eyebrow and a short laugh for that one. "Boyfriend? How old are we again?"

"What do you propose then? Partner sounds so... I don't even know what. We're so far beyond friends with benefits that we're in another galaxy and we're neither engaged nor married. I guess I could call you love of my life but that's a little bit long for everyday use."

More laughter, but also a bit of a pensive look. "I don't know either," Stephen confessed after a moment. "But it's more than boyfriends. I think. Love of your life sounds nice actually. You should use it at the next Avengers meeting." He fell silent for a few moments before he shook his head, obviously throwing away whichever thought he'd had, and offered his right arm. "Help me?" There was a hint of a blush on his face and Tony tried to tell himself that it came from his words and not the hot water. His own blush definitely didn't come from there.

He took one look at the slime or whatever it was that still encrusted most of Stephen's arm and stepped up to do his job. Somebody had to, after all. He carefully cleaned the dirt in the wound away with warm water and a soft flannel, feeling bad everytime Stephen flinched or took a sharp breath. A quick glance up showed him that it must hurt more than anticipated - Stephen had his eyes closed and tried to breathe through the pain. He dabbed and gently went over the wound over and over again until the only thing left was the fresh blood seeping out.

Stephen had been right. No bone but Tony was pretty sure that it was deeper than Stephen had previously realized. He longed to take Stephen into his arms and distract him with a kiss but this was not the time. But soon.

"Almost done," he promised. The cleaning part. Disinfection would hurt again. He took the dressing he had waiting and put it over the wound to keep it clean while he helped Stephen dry off.

The true extent of Stephen's exhaustion became clear when he wordlessly permitted it when Tony wrapped an around his waist to guide him back into the bedroom. Instead of the usual protest and flinching away from the helping gesture he just snuggled into Tony's hold. There was a soft sigh when Tony sat him down on the bed and let go of him.

The Cloak, helpful as always, followed them with their scarily big first aid kit.

A look was enough and Stephen held out his arm. The Cloak swooped in to support it and Tony set to work. The fresh blood was dealt with in seconds and Stephen watched with his usual detachment as Tony disinfected and bandaged the wound. There was only a hiss of pain when Tony put too much pressure on it.

"Sorry!"

"You're good at this," Stephen praised him when everything was done.

Tony snorted. "Practice makes perfect. I've been doing this to myself since long before you came into my life." He put his hand over the bandaged wound - lightly this time - and wished for some healing magic of his own. "Although I must admit that I prefer to patch myself up." He took his hand back and started to put things back into the first aid kit.

Stephen frowned and poked at the bandage with this left hand. "Stop that," Tony commanded absently, not even really looking. He was ignored, not that he had expected anything else, really.

"Sorry," he said a few moments later.

"Sorry for what? Getting home late? It's okay, I wasn't home either, actually. I tried to call you but Wong told me that you're not back yet. The guy is a scary voicemail, you should think about switching him out."

He got a tired but honest smile for that. "I'll tell him that," Stephen threatened and Tony shivered in exaggerated fear. He looked down at his arm again. "Sorry for worrying you. Taking care of alien goo and blood when we're supposed to have movie night isn't fun."

Fuck. Not this again. Tony _hated_ it when Stephen's insecurities came out to play - mostly because they tended to mirror his own.

"As I said - movie night isn't off the table yet. Here or in the living room. Your choice. What's unnegotiable is the fact that you won't do anything but rest tonight and tomorrow." He sat down next to Stephen and drew him into an embrace, gently guiding his head down until it rested on Tony's shoulder. "This is my idea of fun," he confessed quietly. "Not you being hurt and bleeding, God, no. I might be a kinky bitch but not like that. But you should have realized by now that I like it when you allow me to help." Maybe more than he should, but he kept that to himself. Stephen was so damn self-reliant and almost scarily competent at so many things that it was a privilege to be allowed to help.

A sharp inhale but instead of the half-feared tears there was a watery chuckle. "We're a pair of idiots, aren't we?" He used his left arm to draw Tony even nearer.

"And you're only noticing that now? I know that I'm the genius in this relationship but I really thought that you've realized that by now."

In retaliation for that Stephen bit him lightly in the neck and Tony shivered in pleasure.

"Vampire," he accused fondly. "Don't start things you're not in any state to finish."

Stephen groaned at that. "Movie night?" he asked instead, indirectly acknowledging the diagnosis that he wasn't well enough for any kind of sexy fun.

"Movie night," Tony confirmed. "Right here, right now. What do you want to watch?" No answer. "Stephen? Baby?"

The Cloak, which had been watching them the whole time, just like always, sadly shook itself and wrapped itself around Stephen.

_Oh._

"Baby?" he tried again but Stephen was out like a light and far beyond any possibility of response. Tony looked up at the Cloak. "Guess it's just us two, then. Any preferences? " An enthusiastic 'nod'. "Okay. Help me get him down into a position that won't kill his neck and then we can have our movie night in the company of sleeping beauty here. I hope you know that I'm never, ever going to let you live this one down," he promised with a laugh while he - with the Cloak's help and support - laid Stephen out on the bed. He took care to straighten out his arm and move it out of the way before trying to find a comfortable position for himself.

There was a high probability that Stephen would cuddle up to him in a little while and he wanted to be in a position where he could hold him for a few hours or even the whole night.

"So, what are we going to watch?" he asked the Cloak. "Gladiator once again? Or Master & Commander? I've seen through you, just so you know - you can deny it all you want but you're a total Russell Crowe fan, I just know it."

The Cloak shook itself in its usual denial. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. So, what it's going to be?"

He ended up having to suffer through King Arthur. "It's the cloaks, right?" He asked his silent companion. "Any relatives? Or were you there yourself and this is just your way of revisiting ancient history? Come one, tell me, I promise that I'll never tell anyone your little secret."

"It likes fight scenes," Stephen answered groggily and without moving an inch. "I really don't know why, considering we have enough of them in our lives, but it does. I've given up on trying to understand it. Just turn off your brain and enjoy the movie."

Well, there wasn't much to say to that. Stephen was already drifting off again and Tony grabbed the few seconds he had to bend down and kiss him softly. "Hi," he murmured. "Glad to have you home."

Stephen didn't respond apart from a satisfied hum and a slight smile. Tony watched him rest, more than happy with the view, while the Cloak had fun with the movie.

All in all it was the most perfect movie night he'd ever had.

**Author's Note:**

> [Blog](https://amethyst-noir.tumblr.com) | [Bingo Cards](https://whenthesunburnsout.tumblr.com)
> 
> Thank you so much for all the kudos and comments and everything - this card was just as much fun as the Ironstrange Bingo one even if I panicked these last few days. ❤️


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